Game ball



Aug. 22, 1933. w. A. SOI VNETT GAME BALL Filed April 30, 1929 1 VENTOR.

I ATTORNEY-l Patented Aug. 22, 1933 1 UNITED STATES:

GAME BALL William A. Sonnett, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor to The P.Goldsmith Sons Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a Corporation of OhioApplication April 30, 1929. a Serial No. 359,389

3 Claims.

, My invention relates to game balls, such as footballs, basketballs,volley balls and the like, in which an outer covering of flexiblematerial, such as leather or its equivalent, is provided with aninflatable bladder.

Manufacturers have had considerable difiiculty in this type of game ballin preventing the outer covering, usually of leather, from becomingdistorted so that the ball will not retain its original shape. In suchgame balls, as basketballs, aten'dency for the bulge out of shaperesults in untrue bouncing. In footballs, if the ends or sides of theball tend to bulge out, the ball will not preserve a true line of flightin the air during forward pass- 1ng.

It is the object of my invention to provide an inflated ball which is soreinforced that its origi nal shape will be preserved. It is also anobject to provide an inner reinforcement for the stitched seams whichwill lessen the likelihood of the bladder being punctured by the roughinturned seam edges. Another object is the provision of a ball, thevarious sections of which are so united as to make of the ball asubstantially integral formation inside and out instead of a structurecomposed of sections. I t

The above and other objects to which reference will be made in theensuing disclosure, I accomplish by that certain combination andarrangement of parts of which I have illustrated several preferredmodifications.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a basketball made in accordance withmy invention.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the cover of the ball shown in Figure1 turned inside out.

Figure 3 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale of the cover shown inFigure 2, taken along the lines 3-3 of Figure 2. V

Figure 4 is a perspective View of a football havinga modified type ofreinforced cover.

Figure 5 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale of the modified typeof reinforcement for the ball shown in Figure 4 taken along the lines5-5 of this figure.

Figure 6 is a sectional view of a still further modified type of seamcovering.

As is well known, balls of the type to which my invention applies havebeen formed of sections 1, the edges of which are laid together andstitched. The cover is then turned outside in and the bladder insertedwithin the ball. When it is inflated the bladder bears against the seamformed by the rough edges of the turned in edges r of the sections. InFigures 1 and 3 I have shown a ball having an inner cover 2 of flexiblelining material retained within the ball. The inner cover is composed ofsections, and the ends of the sections are overlapped and laid over theend edges of the outer cover seams as indicated at 3. Stitching isapplied as indicated at 4 and the inwardly extending edges of the outercover seams are thus protected by the inner cover which forms a smoothwall against which the bladder is expanded. It may be clearly seen inFigure 3 that the part 3 stretched across the edges of the cover seamportions and sewed to their sides, not only provides cushion means, butacts as a tension member in conjunction with the seam to hold the coverseam portions together.

In Figures 4 and 5 I have shown a football in which inner cover sections3 are overlapped and stitched together with stitching 4, but it will benoted in this modification that a semi-flexible rod 5 of material suchvas raw hide or its equivalent, such as a flexible bar of pyroxylin, isretained within the loop caused by the overlapping cover sections. Inuse, such a construction prevents the pointed end of a football frombecoming distorted so that forward passing may be accurately donewithout the ball losing its pointed shape due either to the naturalpressure of the bladder from within, or to softening of the leather dueto exposure to the elements.

The overlapping inner cloth cover may be stitched to the meeting edgesof the outer cover either at the same time as the edges of the cover arestitched together, or subsequently by an ad: ditional line of stitching.

In Figure 6 the cover sections 1 are not lined on their inner sides withlining, but strips 3a of tape or lining are laid over the meeting edgesof the sections and stitched as at 4a to form a protective cover for theseam.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is'.-

1. In a gameball having an outer cover composed of tough material withinwardly extending stitched seams, means for reinforcing the saidstitched seams comprising semi-rigid members laid along said seams andprovided with means for retaining said members along said seamscomprising a layer of inner covering material stitched to said stitchedscams.

2. A game ball having an outer cover and an inner inflatable bladder,said outer cover composed of sections of tough flexible materialstitched together with inturned seams, said ball having an inner liningof flexible material extending across the meeting edges of the inturnedseams of the cover sections and stitching extending through the innerlining and the seams near the meeting edges of the outer cover sections.

3. A game ball having an outer cover composed of tough material withinwardly turned and abutted seam portions, and an inner sheet materialof substantially reinforcing'strength having a portion extendingtransversely across the plane of abutment of said seam portions andportions lapping outwardly along the sides of said

